Hey guys new to posting so bare with me a little on this, I picked this 14.5 ft Duracraft runabout up 2 years ago with the intention of redoing her and got side tracked. My father got sick and I had to stay half at his house and half at mine for a year and a half taking care of him until he passed away after the first of this year so it left me no time for anything. The first summer I had it I took this boat out about 4 times after cleaning the carb and replacing the water pump and it ran really well but has sat since yesterday when I pulled the tarp off her and took a look. Whats cool about this boat is that I think its all completely untouched since it was new. I have not been able to determine the year but I believe its a 1959 Duracraft and the motor is mercury mark 35a witch is a 59 model 20th anniversary edition. Another cool thing about this boat is its all there and in great shape even the bulb horn. The only bad thing really is the paint which is faded and oxidized and the seat backs are toast as you can see in the pictures. The seats themselves are very simple to redo so no real problem there. Mechanically it would need a good going over before I would trust it steering wise and motor wise. It has a cable steering system on it I don't trust even tho is seems to work well so some conversion might be in order there to a modern steering system. The motor itself would need to be looked at pretty hard as well but it did run well when I first bought it. I have always been a evinrude / johnson guy and I don't no much about this one. Paint would be another adventure I see alot a guys go with roll and tip method, I would be interested in hearing from some of you guys on how well that works. My other concern is I do have a family 4 and I am not sure if this thing has the ponys to pull a tube with three in the boat. The boat is rated for a 35 so that could be a issue. For now I am going to leave it with you guys and see what input on which direction to go first. I have three directions I could go 1 clean it up redo the seats tune it up and play like it is. 2 start the tear down process and restore back to original. 3. Well I'll save this one for later you guys would probably beat me up to bad. With that I am leaving up you guys. Any and all comments and suggestion welcome Thanks in advance
